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A SOLICITOR REPRESENTING three Limerick road policing gardaí has echoed the Tánaiste’s call for a public inquiry after prosecutions against three more gardaí charged with perverting the course of justice were withdrawn.
This morning, the three accused, retired Garda Peter O’Donnell, 52, Garda Paul Baynham, 37, and Garda Niall Deegan, 51, were in court as barrister Carl Hanahoe for the State told Judge Colin Daly that he was withdrawing the case.
The three men were all serving in the Limerick Garda Division in roads policing. They were charged with perverting the course of justice in connection with the alleged termination of road traffic offence tickets. They all pleaded not guilty.
The gardaí have been suspended since 2020 after a probe by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) began.
In recent weeks both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris have differed with Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and called for an inquiry or review to be launched into the NBCI investigation.
Another government TD, junior justice minister Niall Collins, attacked the investigation following this morning’s hearing.
The decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to withdraw the remaining prosecutions is the correct action, the Limerick TD said.
“Finally, Limerick gardai and the wider Limerick community can now move on from this whole series of unnecessary events,” he said.
Following this morning’s short hearing, solicitor for the men Elizabeth Hughes attacked the garda investigation that saw her clients suspended for six years.
She said she welcomed “this long overdue vindication of the innocence” of the gardaí which followed the earlier acquittal at trial of four serving gardaí and one retired garda superintendent.
Hughes said that the gardaí wanted to thank the public and said that they are looking forward to “returning to full policing duties and to serving their communities again”.
“The complaint against these members was always without foundation.
The precedent has long been set by custom and practice, and the role of policing in the community, long established in Ireland which takes the view that the guard on the front line has common sense and the wit to apply it.
“From the moment I was first instructed in these matters I was of this view and advising on those lines and I have not wavered ever since.
“Garda management is just as well aware as we are of this custom and practice established over many generations of community policing,” she said.
Custom and practice is a legal principle associated with employment law and essentially means an activity becomes so common place that it is legally binding.
It is understood, according to sources who spoke to The Journal, that across the country only one other garda, in the east of the country, is being investigated for cancelling road traffic offences.
Hughes said that gardaí in Limerick Division were treated unfairly as they were singled out for the practice which is widespread across An Garda Síochána. She said this was repeatedly highlighted to garda management who “could have listened but seemingly refused to”.
“We trust that the public inquiry which will now be set up will address these matters and the questions as to how this happened, and the consequences that flowed from it, in the proper forum,” she added.
The strike out, known by legal professionals as a nolle prosequi, followed from an email sent to solicitors representing the men by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The case is associated with that of four serving gardaí and a retired Superintendent centred around the “squaring” or non-prosecution of road traffic tickets.
The five were charged with perverting the course of public justice in relation to the cancelling of fixed charge penalty notice. Leahy was accused of the offence in connection to striking out a summons while in court. They were found not guilty by a jury in Limerick Circuit Criminal Court after an eight-week trial.
The National Bureau of Criminal Investigation interviewed some 130 people in the course of its investigations in Limerick.
Frank Thornton, who is the local senior representative of the Garda Representative Association, said the NBCI’s failed investigation had damaged confidence and morale in the Limerick Division.
“The sense of relief today is hampered by a suffocating emotion of anger and disbelief that our colleagues and their families have had to endure nearly six years of exile, suffering, personal anguish, and character assassination,” he said.
Thornton said he had repeated highlighted the “absolute necessity” for an independent appeals process for the An Garda Síochána suspension policy. He said the treatment of gardaí was a “dire dilution of basic employment rights” and a failure of due process.
During the case, two gardaí continued to be suspended long after they were cleared by the DPP.
Hundreds of offences detected by the gardaí investigated by the NBCI were struck out in court as a direct result of their suspension.
“What has unfolded here in Limerick with this witch hunt is a stark reminder to all, that an independent public inquiry of this investigation is not an option for the Minister for Justice, it’s an absolute necessity.
“The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have agreed with a review, and the only review possible is one in the form of an independent public inquiry,” he added.
Thornton concluded by criticising both Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and the Minister for Justice for “singing from the same hymn sheet of ‘nothing to see here move on’”.
“An Garda Siochana is founded on trust and transparency, let our leaders lead the way now with an independent public inquiry,” he said.
A statement has been requested from An Garda Siochána.
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